Jesus not really crucified, Libya's Gaddafi says

Published: 02 April 2007

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has told a mass prayer meeting
for Muslims in Niger that Jesus was not really nailed to the cross but
that another man who resembled him was crucified in his place.

"It is not correct to say that," Colonel Gaddafi said of Jesus' crucifixion, according to a Sunday Herald-Sun report. "Another man resembling Jesus was crucified in his place."

Colonel Gaddafi also told listeners that it was a mistake to believe that Christianity was a universal faith alongside Islam.

"There
are serious mistakes - among them the one saying that Jesus came as a
messenger for other people other than the sons of Israel," Reuters quoted him as saying.

"Christianity is not a faith for people in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas," he said.

Colonel Gaddafi, who is seeking to expand his influence in Africa, said his arguments came from the Koran.

"It
is a mistake that another religion exists alongside Islam. There is
only one religion which is Islam after Mohammed," he said in the sermon.

"All those believers who do not follow Islam are losers," he added.

"We are here to correct the mistakes in the light of the teachings of the Koran."